James Newby in “To Russia With (Gay) Love” video

The barbershop quartet Short, Back & Sides and featured baritone James Newby

We posted this on our Twitter feed yesterday, but we feel like it should be featured on the main site, as well. It's a video that was posted by vlogger Davey Wavey and includes barihunk James Newby as part of the barbershop quartet Short, Back and Sides singing "To Russia With (Gay) Love.” The video is intended to show the worldwide support for LGBT Russians from people across the globe.

Short, Back and Sides describes themselves as "a barbershop quartet boasting a great blend, rich tones and devilishly good hair." Even their bios have references to their hair. Newby's says, "James is Short, Back and Sides' Baritone and arguably their most Stylish member. He is 20 years old and currently studying at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. He holds a choral scholarship at the Old Royal naval college chapel choir and sings with a number of other ensembles. James has his hair cut once a month and his preferred product is wax."

We first featured James Newby back in August, when the 20-year-old rugby-playing baritone was brought to our attention via Twitter. Newby has direct barihunk lineage, as he previously studied with Omar Ebrahim (who has been on this site in all his glory).

In the video, a quartet of young men harmonize in a beautiful a cappella rendition of the song “I Can Sing a Rainbow” as supporters in Montreal, London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Singapore, and Melbourne write messages of hope to LGBT Russians on an oversize card.

 

The global response was prompted by President Vladimir Putin signing a law this summer that imposes fines and jail time for anyone found to be distributing or discussing "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" in a venue accessible to minors.

Make sure to check out Short, Back and Sides' website, where you can listen to plenty of music samples. You can also follow them on Twitter @barbershopsbs or follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/barbershopsbs.